[vharihar]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Officially you mean?

I didn't follow your query. Do you mean to ask if it's officially complete and opened? Yes, it was complete and the lane markings were all there barring 1-2 overpasses which were under construction, and barring the last 3-4 kms near the interchange near Bellary.

Originally Posted by narayans80

This and the Madras-Bangalore expressway never made sense.Neither were providing any sort of value add.

I actually feel the Chennai - Bangalore Expwy under construction via Hoskote and Chittoor makes a lot of sense. It cuts short the distance quite a bit, and would take quite a bit of load off the erstwhile hwy via Krishnagiri which is quite overloaded.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by vharihar

I didn't follow your query. Do you mean to ask if it's officially complete and opened? Yes, it was complete and the lane markings were all there barring 1-2 overpasses which were under construction, and barring the last 3-4 kms near the interchange near Bellary.

The highway was fully operational sometime in 2019 itself. I myself have taken it (reading updates several months ahead of the trip) on 4th Jan 2020, it was only missing the lane markings and couple of km at Chitradurga that was not done. So when you said, it was opened in Dec 2020, it was only an 'official' inauguration date. But the highway was in operation much earlier.

Originally Posted by vharihar

I actually feel the Chennai - Bangalore Expwy under construction via Hoskote and Chittoor makes a lot of sense. It cuts short the distance quite a bit, and would take quite a bit of load off the erstwhile hwy via Krishnagiri which is quite overloaded.

The expressway starts at Hoskote and ends at Ranipet or Sriperumbudur. Effectively you have to wade through the peripheral traffic of either metropolis. The interim traffic has always been fast. You could still average about 75-80 kph through the Krishnagiri route even today. The completion of Ranipet-Chittoor was all that was needed for East and North Bangalore destinations. Besides wasn't this expressway project downsized from 8-lane to 4-lane.Time savings isn't going to be significant, 1 hour at the most.

There are lot more sections like Gooty-Hubli, Greenfield sections of the Madras-Surat, Bijapur-Solapur, Dhule-Surat, Kannad-Chalisgaon-Dhule that would significantly change freight movement cross country than they are today.

[Kannan]

When I was young and had to travel between Coimbatore and Salem, the "NH 47" travel was the best experience I had, the beautiful roadside trees, a smooth road allowing a Tempo Trax to touch almost 90kmph at stretches and reaching the destination in less than 3 1/2 hours which generally used to take around 4 1/2 hours.

Fast forward 30 years and now when I travel between Bengaluru and Chennai, the favourite part is the travel between Krishnagiri and Vellore via "NH 48". 6 lane highway, set the cruise control to 80kmph and sit on the middle lane while the cars zip past you in the inner lanes.
PS: NH-48 connecting Krishnagiri to Walajahpet is one of the few best highways in India!

Came across the video from "Autocar India" on the "Nagpur to Mumbai Samruddhi Mahamarg expressway" and I'm quite impressed with how awesome and future proof the road is.

I sincerely hope the same is done across major cities. As of now for me, travel between Chennai and my home city Coimbatore is relatively good (takes 8 hours door to door travelling across 4 lane roads and 2 lane roads), but not as good as "NH 48" and I hope one day I get the same experience as a "Nagpur to Mumbai Samruddhi Mahamarg expressway".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz44CQOb6zM

Dear Mods, I couldn't find a thread that discusses only expresses ways and highways, hence this new thread. If you find one, please merge this into that thread.

[abhi_tjet]

I am following the updates for this mega highway and will be one of the beneficiaries once this stretch opens up(whenever that happens). My travel time to Raipur shall be reduced to 15-16 hours, I suppose, from the current 18 hrs.

This highway has already missed quite a few deadlines and latest once seems end 2022 for entire stretch. However, I agree that the concept is good and let’s hope it’s implemented for other routes as well.

[contactme27]

Friends, can someone confirm if we can take Samruddhi expressway from Aurangabad aot Shirdi now ?

[inder]

Originally Posted by contactme27

Friends, can someone confirm if we can take Samruddhi expressway from Aurangabad aot Shirdi now ?

No you cannot take.Although some stretches are being used,but it is not officially inaugrated. And the mentioned stretch is anyway incomplete.